FREE NEWSLETTER: Econintersect sends a nightly newsletter highlighting news events of the day, and providing a summary of new articles posted on the website. Econintersect will not sell or pass your email address to others per our privacy policy. You can cancel this subscription at any time by selecting the unsubscribing link in the footer of each email.

Of the five Federal Reserve districts which have released their February manufacturing surveys - all are in contraction. A complete summary follows.

Market expections (from Bloomberg) was -32.4 to -18.0 (consensus -30,0), against the reported -8.5. From the Dallas Fed:

Texas factory activity contracted again in February, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, remained negative but edged up from -10.2 to -8.5, suggesting output declined but at a slightly softer pace than in January.

Most other indexes of current manufacturing activity also indicated further contraction in February. The new orders index fell 8 points to -17.6, reaching its lowest level since May 2009, when Texas was in recession. The growth rate of ordersindex remained strongly negative at -17.4. The capacity utilization index was largely unchanged at -8.2. Meanwhile, theshipments index rose 10 points to -1.1 after plunging last month.

Perceptions of broader business conditions remained strongly negative in February. The general business activity index has been negative for more than a year and came in at -31.8, up slightly from the January reading. The company outlook index posted a third negative reading in a row but edged up to -17.4. More than a quarter of manufacturers noted their outlook had worsened from January.

The survey's price measures remained negative in February, but wages continued to rise. The raw materials prices index declined 3 points to -12.0, although 73 percent of manufacturers noted no change in input costs. The finished goods pricesindex also declined three points, coming in at -12.5. Meanwhile, the wages and benefits index stayed positive but dipped from 16.5 to 12.3, suggesting a smaller rise in compensation.

The growing use of ad blocking software is creating a shortfall in covering our fixed expenses. Please consider a donation to Econintersect to allow continuing output of quality and balanced financial and economic news and analysis.

Keep up with economic news using our dynamic economic newspapers with the largest international coverage on the internet